SLV Charter has allowed my children to thrive

My children participate in two different SLV Charter programs, Fall Creek Homeschool and Coast Redwood Middle School. Fall Creek Homeschool is a K-5th single room classroom that meets two days a week and has just over twenty students.

My children participate in two different SLV Charter programs, Fall Creek Homeschool and Coast Redwood Middle School. Fall Creek Homeschool is a K-5th single room classroom that meets two days a week and has just over twenty students. Coast Redwood Middle School is a 6th-8th single room classroom that also meets two days a week and has a bit over twenty students. Both children also take advantage of the all-charter events and SLV Homeschool classes that are open to additional enrollment from the rest of the charter.

A regular classroom was never an option for my older son since he was working at second-grade level or higher in all subjects by the time he was considered old enough to start kindergarten. He started his school career in a neighboring district where he was allowed to skip a grade and work with older children in a very small class environment. Sadly, the program he was in changed dramatically making us have to find another option that would fit him. His teacher got in contact with Rhonda at SLV Charter, all of the bumps were smoothed out and he joined Coast Redwood Middle School as a 5th grader participating in the 6th-grade program, giving him the equivalent of a full two-grade skip. It was a perfect fit for him both academically and socially. He is allowed to work at his level and pace, for example giving a fifteen minute PowerPoint presentation on the cosmology of the beginning and end of the universe.

My youngest son is on the high functioning end of the autism spectrum. When it was time to start school there was no way he could have thrived in a regular school classroom due to both his social and physical issues. The two day a week program at Fall Creek was just enough for him socially and emotionally and, since we are homeschooling, he is allowed to go at his own pace academically which is much faster than a regular classroom would allow. I am also allowed to function as his medical aide until he grows out of some of his physical issues which allows him to feel comfortable while he is working to get his body to function properly.

The most important thing to me and the biggest bonus for both my children is that the students and teachers in the various SLV Charter programs are very open-minded and supportive of individual differences whether they are personality differences or educational differences. Both of my children would be considered “strange” or “outsiders” in a regular classroom environment and would probably have to deal with bullying or teasing on a regular basis. They have experienced none of this in the SLV Charter environment. In fact, several of my older son's classmates seem proud to have a kid like him in their classroom and my younger son is becoming one of the popular kids in his class, something that I can't imagine ever happening in a different environment. The programs in SLV Charter have allowed my children to thrive and continue to love learning, something I will always be grateful for.